The Art of Deduction
by IDreamOfDistantSeas
Summary: When a new student named Artemis Fowl appears, it is apparent that he has even more secrets than Conan. But just who is this new victim of APTX-4869?
1. Chapter 1

Diclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with Artemis Fowl except a copy of each book. I own nothing that has to do with Case Closed.

The detective boys, minus two members, were using the small time before class started by chatting. The other two children that were in the detective boys, Ai Haibara and Conan Edogawa, were reading. These two were actually teenagers, but were shrunk by a drug Haibara had made. (For more information, go read the manga or watch the anime).

Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, and Genta were talking about the new transfer student.

"I hope the new boy is nice," Ayumi fretted. Then her eyes lit up as she had an idea. "I'm going to ask him to join the detective boys!"

"What makes you so certain it will be a boy?" Haibara asked, turning a page in her magazine.

"Well, first there was Conan and then you. So, with this pattern it must be a boy." Mitsuhiko answered. He then blushed when Haibara looked at him. The door to the classroom swung open and all the children in the class rushed to their seats as their teacher entered the classroom.

"Class, meet your new classmate!" Their teacher said as the new student strode into the room.

Conan looked up from _The Sign of Four. _It was indeed a boy. The boy stood not at all nervous at the front of the classroom. His hair was black and his skin looked as if he hadn't seen the sun for months. On the new boys face was a smirk that looked out of place on the face of someone so young. Even stranger, one eye was a piercing icy blue, while the other was a warm hazel, his eyes looked as if they belonged to separate people. To Conan, it seemed as if there was something odd about him that went beyond the multicolored eyes and the smirk. As Conan stared at him, a soft blue aura of sorts seemed to surround the boy, then Conan blinked and it vanished. Conan heard Haibara gasp. Why would just seeing the new boy startle the normally cold-seeming girl? Curiosity about the boy seized him.

"Go on," the teacher encouraged the boy, "introduce yourself!" The new boy's eyes flickered across the room and his smirk widened as he saw Haibara.

"My name is Artemis Fowl the Second, pleased to make your acquaintance."

"There is an empty seat next to Genta, why don't you sit there?" The boy, Artemis, Conan corrected himself, walked down the aisle between desks and sat down. Conan looked over at him, wondering about him, and noticed something peculiar. On Artemis's left hand, which was resting on the desk, his index finger was longer than his second finger.

'_How strange.'_ Conan thought.

Haibara still was staring at Artemis Fowl who turned and sent that smirk at her again. Haibara glared and Conan's curiosity became even harder to deal with. Conan wrote a note to Haibara. "How do you know him?" and pushed it toward her.

"Later," she whispered. Class dragged on until finally the last bell rang. The students poured out of the classroom in a loud, chattering wave until the only people left in the room were Artemis, Conan, Haibara, and the teacher.

"Shall we go somewhere to talk." Artemis said politely. By this point Conan was practically vibrating with curiosity.

"Of coarse," Haibara replied.

"Goodbye, children!" their teacher exclaimed. "Don't forget to do you homework!" Conan rolled his eyes and was surprised to see Artemis do the same.

The three walked in silence until they got to the park. They stopped under a large tree. All three looked around to see that no one was within earshot. When they saw that no one was, Haibara turned to Artemis.

"What are you doing here?"she asked. "And how did you get involved in this mess?"

Of coarse, Artemis could not tell the truth, for he was actually there on a favor to Holly. And another reason he was there was, he would admit it, he was once again bored. After coming back with Holly, Qwan, and N°1 from Hybras he had lived happily for a while with his family. Obviously there had been questions, questions he could not answer. Why was he still young? Where had he been? Artemis had worn a blue contact lens to stop any questions about thay, but it hurt him to have to lie to his parents.

He got to know the twins, Myles and Beckett, and discovered that he could be happy living peacefully with his family, despite the questions and pain in his parents eyes every time they looked at him. For a while he was quite content, but with nothing to challenge his intellect, he grew restless. After three months being back, another lost painting was donated to a museum by an anonymous donor, two weeks later, another. But soon after that, Artemis knew he had to call the faeries.

Not that he didn't. He called Holly often and every time he asked her if there was another save-the-world issue they had to deal with. There never was though and while he was glad that there was no danger, nothing tested his brain better.

Apparently, he called at just the right moment. A frantic Holly had answered the phone.

"Artemis!" she yelled into the phone before he could say anything. "An elf and a sprite have gone missing in Japan and I was just going to call you!"

"Slow down, Holly, give me the details."

"I am going to the surface to investigate, I'll tell you everything when I get there."

"All right, I will see you soon." The phone clicked off. He had no need to worry about his parents, they had departed for London just yesterday with the twins. Artemis decline to go, saying it would hurt his schooling, in actuality he had hoped for another adventure. And he had gotten one, so the question was, what was it going to be this time?

Artemis sat still in his chair for a few moments.

"A mystery." he said to himself. "How interesting."

AN: Reviews and suggestions are welcome!

I hope you liked it!


	2. Chapter 2

Diclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with Artemis Fowl except a copy of each book. I own nothing that has to do with Case Closed.

Holly had arrived at Fowl Manor a few hours later. Her short red hair was messier than usual and her mismatched eyes showed that she was fighting off panic.

_'This situation must be extremely grave in order for Holly to be this upset,'_ Artemis thought,

"Well then Holly," Artemis said as they sat in his study. Actually, Artemis sat, Holly paced. "Tell me everything."

"The sprite had gotten an above ground visa. He was on a vacation to Japan apparently." Holly here muttered about stupid civilians. Going on with the story, she said, "His wife was with him. They split up for a few minutes and when the wife went to the meeting spot she saw two Mud men in dark coats stuffing the sprite into the back of a car. In hysterics, she called us." Artemis opened his mouth to ask a question, but Holly interrupted him before he could say anything.

"I'm not done. A few hours later, as we were still figuring out what to do, another fairy was reported missing. The elf was on the surface illegally. A member of Recon was actually looking for him when he saw the elf being pushed into a car trunk as well. Both of our missing fairies didn't even shield!" Holly muttered about stupid civilians again. Artemis looked thoughtful. This was a grave matter indeed.

"Let me guess, the cars had the same description." Artemis said before Holy could interrupt him again. She nodded in agreement.

"Both the Recon officer and the missing Sprite's wife said it was a black sports car."

"So it is most likely that the same person was responsible." Artemis continued. "So the question is, do they know about the fairy civilization or do they not? And I suppose you are supposed to find this out?" Artemis looked to Holly for confirmation. She nodded again.

"Very well, I shall accompany you to Japan" Artemis got up from his chair. Holly looked relieved. Though she would probably never admit it, if she wanted anyone on the job, it would be this certain Mud boy.

A few hours later they were on a privately owned plane headed to Japan. Holly and Artemis had switched from their usual positions. When below ground, Holly was the pilot, but now Artemis was. Butler had insisted on coming, but Artemis had refused. seeing as the retired bodyguard was getting older and there was no way Artemis was putting Butler's life on the line again. Mulch was not there because this operation would be during the daytime, and dwarfs absolutely hate sunlight.

"Do we have any idea who these men in black were?" Artemis inquired.

"No," Holly replied, sounding very frustrated, "Nothing." Artemis frowned, wearing black was not much information. He would have investigate thoroughly when they reached Japan.

"I take it we also have no idea how they found out about you, either? Or their motives?"

"We have absolutely nothing." Holly sighed, once again it was on their shoulders to save the world as they knew it and, as always, it was a heavy burden. Artemis put his hand on her shoulder for comfort and she looked up at him.

"It will be alright Holly. We have saved the world before and we can do it again."

"I know Artemis, it's just...so hard"

"We would both get bored with out these emergencies though."

"Saving something on a smaller scale would be nice." Holly sighed again. Artemis squeezed her shoulder.

"We can do this."

"Going soft Artemis?" He chuckled.

"Never." Artemis smiled at her. Somewhere in the time stream, Artemis had realized that even if friends could be handicaps, he was glad to have them."Anyway, Let's review what we do know."

"The kidnappers wore black, are based in Japan, and we don't know the reason they are doing this."

"Well it is not for money, seeing as there has not been a ransom note," Artemis said.

"You would know."

"Indeed." Artemis smiled. The rest of the plane ride was silent, the two passengers thinking about the task they were being faced with.

The plane touched ground in Japan, Artemis landing it expertly. Holly shielded and they climbed out.

"This way" Holly whispered, pointing. Artemis began walking it that direction, Holly hovered a few feet in front of him, leading the way. The only reason Artemis could see her was because he was wearing a pair of sunglasses he had adapted to work like the LEP helmet's shield-filter. They were going to the place that the Sprite's wife had seen him disappear and then were going to the other spot of disappearance. Artemis was deep in thought, wondering about how the men knew about the fairies. He did not realize Holly was talking to him until she looked at him expectantly for an answer.

"Sorry," Artemis said, pulling himself out of his thoughts, "Could you repeat that?"

"I said that we should split up. I will go to where the elf disappeared and you go to where the sprite was taken." Artemis agreed and they went their separate ways.

Thanks to the gift of tongues Artemis had gotten when he stole some magic, he could understand all the things people were saying around him. One conversation caused him to stop in his tracks.

"Hey Bro, are you sure one of those fairies will come here?"

"Of coarse, why else would I waste my time standing here?"

The first person that spoke was a thickset man. The second was a taller man with very long blond hair. Both were wearing black coats and hats. They were both also wearing sunglasses, the only effective way of stopping the mesmer. They were leaning against a black Porsche. They were in an alleyway, out of sight from most passerby.

_'I do believe I have found our culprits.'_ Artemis thought. He then saw a small, childlike figure walking in the direction of the men.

_'A pixie.' _Artemis classified the fairy. The two men also saw the fairy, and moved toward him. _'A pixie who is about to join the missing fairies list.' _Artemis glanced around. There was no way of stopping this without revealing himself and putting him in danger.

_'Holly must be rubbing off on me.' _Artemis thought, and stepped in front of the pixie, facing the men in black.

"Run pixie." Artemis ordered. Startled, the pixie did just that, still forgetting to shield. Artemis was starting to agree with Holly's muttering about stupid civilians.

"Who are you, boy?"The man with the long hair asked.

"No one of importance." Artemis replied nonchalantly." A random do-gooder and all that."

"Well, I'm afraid that you can not go unpunished." the blond said with a cold smile. "Especially because you appear to know something about these creatures and our plans for them."

_'I am in deep trouble.' _Artemis heard footsteps behind him. _'And I am an idiot for not noticing that I was being distracted.' _Sure enough, an object hit him on the head and he stumbled to the ground. A pill was slipped into his mouth and Artemis knew that he was going to die. The pain that filled his body as the men walked away only reaffirmed this fact in his mind. _'Goodbye, Butler. Goodbye, Holly. Good luck with this case.' _These were his last thoughts before darkness swallowed him, taking away the pain.


	3. Chapter 3

Diclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with Artemis Fowl except a copy of each book. I own nothing that has to do with Case Closed.

Artemis's eyes struggled to focus. He was amazed that he could feel himself breathing. His phone was ringing. He felt the back of his head, but magic had already healed the wound. All that was left was some matting in his black hair from the blood. Without a close examination, no one would realize he had been hurt. Artemis struggled to sit up. When he did, he realized he was much closer to the ground than he should have been. Artemis reached for his phone and paused. His hands! They were smaller than he expected. He looked down at himself.

_'This is an interesting development.'_ His clothes were much too large and his hands were too small. _'I have become a child.'_ Artemis could tell he was close to panicking. '_Calm down, think logically.' _

_'It is obvious that the pill is the cause behind this. I wonder why magic did not stop this reaction.?'_

Artemis would have stayed there trying to puzzle out the mysteries behind the drug, but his phone was still ringing. He picked it up and flipped it open.

"Artemis, where are you? It has been two hours since we were supposed to meet up! Why haven't you answered your phone?" The irate voice of Holly was deafening. Artemis held the phone farther away from his ear.

"Holly, I have found some more information." Artemis wondered how to phrase this. "But we have a slight, um, problem." Artemis scolded himself internally. '_Um is not a word, I need to use proper grammar even in these situations.'_

"What kind of problem?" Holly asked warily.

"I will go to our meeting place now, you will see then."

"Alright, see you soon."

Artemis prepared himself to be laughed at.

Holly was standing on a bench, shielded, at the meeting spot. Artemis still had his sunglass, even if they kept sliding down his nose, so he could see her tapping her foot impatiently. Walking in clothes made for someone ten years older than you was difficult, but Artemis had managed.

Artemis prepared himself mentally and walked up to Holly.

"Holly," Artemis said hesitantly, and gestured to himself. "This is the problem."

"Artemis?" Holly's eyes widen so far that they looked as if they were going to fall out of her skull. She gaped at him for a few minutes and then burst into laughter.

"How...did..that...happen?" Holly managed to gasp out. Artemis looked indignant.

"There is no need to laugh, this is a serious matter." Artemis did not enjoy being mocked, even though if it was someone else he might have found it amusing.

"I know, sorry," Holly replied, trying to hold in her laughter. "But ...it's just...you..."And burst out laughing again. After a few moments of Artemis standing with his arms folded and glaring, Holly got herself together.

"You said you had information?" She asked, slightly out of breath from her laughing fit.

"Yes, I actually managed to find our culprits." Artemis neglected to mention that it had been pure luck. "The descriptions of the witnesses were fairly accurate."

"But you can add to it?" Holly asked, all traces of laughter gone.

"Yes, the culprits were two men, both between twenty and fifty years of age. Judging by their conversation, they are following orders, so are most likely part of a bigger group or organization. They were about to take a pixie captive, so I stepped in. I was incapacitated and was forced to swallow a pill. When I came back into consciousness, I was a child."

"Did they mention why they were capturing fairies? And do they know about Haven?"

"They did not mention either."

"What are we going to do about your little," Holly smiled again, "problem?"

"Well I certainly cannot go home, Mother would throw a fit." Artemis frowned, thinking through all the possibilities for what to do. Then a group of five children passed through the park. In the lead were three children. One was a girl who was chattering away to the two boys next to her. One boy was fat and the other was skinny and freckled. But these children were not who caught Artemis's attention.

Behind these three were two other children, a boy and a girl. These two were arguing, and though Artemis could not hear what they were saying he could tell that their vocabulary was larger than most children their age. The boy had overly large glasses and looked to be losing the argument. The girl had much lighter hair and was the one who drew the majority of Artemis's attention.

Both of these two children looked alert and observed their surroundings constantly, as if expecting an attack.

"It looks like there are others in the same situation."Artemis said. Holly followed his gaze.

"Those two? They look ordinary enough."

"Look closely," Artemis said, smirking. "They don't walk like adults do, and they are scared of something. Besides, I have met that girl before, when she was older. I would consider in a coincidence that I see two people that look so alike, but that expression is the same as the girl I met."

"Where did you meet her?" Holly asked.

"A gathering for young scientists that I attended when I was thirteen. Not so long after the mind wipe in fact." When Artemis said this Holly looked guilty. "Mother and Father decided it would be good for me to meet people my own age that I might be able to stand. I, of course, wanted nothing to do with it. That girl also appeared to want nothing to do with people her own age and unlike the majority of the children there, actually was intelligent. Her name was Shiho Miyano and at the time, she was eleven. With the time I missed in the time tunnel, we would be the same age now. Judging by my own appearance, the drug takes about ten years, so her age would be accurate considering she would be eighteen. Now that I look back on it, the project she was working on at the time seemed as if regressing to a younger age could be a side effect."

"How is this relevant at all Artemis?" Holly signed. "Get back to the point."

"The point is that I am not alone in this situation, so I will follow the lead of those who have come into this situation before me. By spending time with actual children, the chances of being noticed as out of the ordinary are more in the victims favor and I am guessing that none of us want to be noticed by the organization behind this. I would also be able to find more information about this organization from them."

And that is how Artemis enrolled himself in elementary school for the second time.


	4. Chapter 4

Of coarse, there was no way Artemis was going to tell all of this to Haibara and Conan. So instead he said:

"I saw something that was meant to be confidential, was forced to take a pill, and ended up as a child. I take it the pill was your doing?" Artemis said to Haibara. Conan gasped, that glared at the ground. Another victim of the organization he had sworn to stop.

"Anyway, who are you, and how do you know Haibara?" Conan asked Artemis impatiently. Artemis smirked.

"I already told you, I am Artemis Fowl the Second, a mastermind." Artemis would usually have said criminal mastermind, but he reasoned that that would not be wise in front of a detective.

"No," said Conan, "Your real name, you must be using an alias so the Black Organization doesn't realize you are still alive."

"Artemis is in fact my real name, and I have no need for to disguise it. The Organization had no way of knowing who I was when the attacked me. But more importantly, " Artemis smirked again, "I have been officially dead for three years."

Conan gaped at him.

"So, Shinichi Kudo," Artemis said, "How are you planning on taking this organization down?"

Conan gaped some more. He pulled himself together quickly, though.

"You never answered my question about how you know Haibara."

"I suggest that we head to a more private place," Haibara said, glancing around. "This entire conversation would lead to disaster if we were overheard."

"Agreed." "Okay.", and the three not-children walked away, glancing around for any suspicious people in black trench coats. Haibara explained about how she met Artemis to Conan on the way to Dr. Agasa's, or course not including the mind wipe.

Just moments after they had turned onto the street of Dr. Agasa's house and the Kudo Mansion, an explosion shattered the silence of the street. All three jumped, and then ran to the Professor's house. The front door had been blown off and smoke was pouring out of it.

"Is this … normal?" asked Artemis.

"Yes," replied Conan, "just another one of the Professor's crazy inventions. Hey, Professor!" Conan called this into the house. They heard coughing for a few moments and then a soot covered old man stumbled out of the building.

"I'm fine, Shinichi." Dr. Agasa called back. He then noticed Artemis. "Who is this?" he asked. Conan opened his mouth to answer, but Artemis beat him to it.

"Artemis Fowl the Second," Artemis smiled his vampire smile. Dr. Agasa stepped back without realizing it, more than a little scared. That expression did not belong on a child's face, or anyone's face for that matter.

"He is another victim of APTX-4869," Conan told him. Dr. Agasa stared at the boy with more understanding. The boy looked young for his new age.

"That is because I am only sixteen, not seventeen like these two." Artemis said. Dr. Agasa blinked, he had not realized that he had said that out loud.

"You are a mess," Haibara scolded the professor, took out a handkerchief and the reached up to wipe the soot off of his face. He bent down to let her. Conan smiled, amused at the sight of the little girl once again taking care of the grown man.

Finally, the group entered the house. Artemis went to look at what the professor had been working. It was a pile of wires and screws that were all singed.

"Oh, yes," Dr. Agasa bent down to look at the pile of machinery, "I am trying to build a laser disguised as a pen. To cut locks and things like that."

Artemis examined each piece for awhile, than asked "Where are the size two screws?"

"In that drawer." Dr. Agasa pointed at a drawer a few feet away, "But why...?"

He stopped talking out of shock, his mouth still hanging open, when Artemis began to assemble a pen, with a laser adjustment. Artemis occasionally asked where things where, but other than that, was silent. Conan noticed that the Irish boy was being very, very careful not to cut himself on anything.

The three others watched in awe as Artemis built the pen. It took him less than an hour to build something Dr. Agasa had been trying for days to create. When he was finished, Artemis looked it over, and smiled to himself, satisfied. Artemis handed it to Conan.

"Try it out. Just turn the cap to the right are this bottom part to the left, a laser will come out where the ink would usually."

Conan did as he was told, being careful to point it at an unused piece of metal. A red laser beam shot out and Conan carved the kanji for his name in the metal.

Artemis lifted up the metal, in some places the desk had been burned underneath.

Conan went to hand the laser pen back to Artemis, but Artemis gave it back.

"Keep it, it might be useful." Artemis smirked.

"How did you do that?" Conan asked, slightly amazed.

"I told you, I am a genius."

"Not very modest, are you?' Conan said.

"Just stating fact, " Artemis said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders. "Now," he said, suddenly serious, " tell me how you plan on bringing this organization down."


	5. Chapter 5

After discussing the Black organization for many hours with the other two who were in his situation, Artemis walked back to the apartment he had rented. Holly would be staying in one of the rooms of the two-bedroom apartment, so she could be near in case anything happened, and Artemis would be staying in the other. He unlocked the door, then typed in the password. If the manger of the apartment complex thought it odd that a small boy had rented out the most expensive two-bedroom apartment of a very expensive set of apartments, he hadn't said anything.

Foaly had been alerted of the situation, and after laughing at the disgruntled Artemis, had said he would investigate this mysterious Black Organization. Holly was currently flying to Haven to pick up the supplies needed for a long-term investigation.

Artemis was deep in thought, usually one of his favorite things to do, but now, lines of concentration furrowed his forehead.

He was thinking about the challenge that he and his allies faced. It was, by far, the greatest challenge he had ever faced. He was once again part of a life or death situation, but his time, he had an army of unknown and very capable people opposing him. Though Artemis only admitted it internally, he was very glad to have allies.

Shinichi Kudo: a deductive genius.

Shiho Miyano: a brilliant scientist and an inside source on their enemy

And then, of coarse there were Holly and the rest of his fairy friends.

_But_, Artemis thought, _I will need to put all of my genius to work._ _First, I think I will investigate this Kaitou KID. _

Artemis had found out that men dressed in black had been going after KID. He had reasoned that they were the same people that he was facing. _Judging by the fact that they always go after him after he has the jewel, they want the same thing he does. KID is obviously looking for something specific, the way he searches and then gives jewels back is proof of that._

Artemis glanced at a clock, realizing it was later than his child's body should be awake. _Plus, I have to go to elementary school tomorrow. _He internally groaned. _I suppose I could meditate through the whole thing. _For Artemis, the first time through elementary school was horrible, now it would be worse. But, it was worth it if he could bring this organization down, helping the his friends, the fairy civilization, and human beings.

Artemis was frankly amazed at how much he had changed from the cold and cruel twelve year old he had been at the start of his fairy adventures.

He shook himself from his thoughts and went to bed. He had to us a stool to get into bed and the bed, which was the same size as the one he had at Fowl Manor, seemed huge. _It would time for him to get used to this small body._

In the morning, Artemis woke up and got ready for school, then started his walk to get there. He dressed less formally than he would have likes, but such was the price of not attracting to much attention. As he was nearing the school gates, he heard someone calling his name. He turned and saw a stampede of children coming at him. The three real children of the Detective Boys surrounded him, the more mature members trailing behind.

"You're coming from the same direction we were, we should walk together tomorrow!" Ayumi squealed. Genta and Mitsuhiko traded glances, they hoped that the new boy would not become more competition for Ayumi's affection. Artemis stared. He was not used to dealing with children. Luckily, he did not need to say anything, as the bell rang.

All of the children still loitering sprinted to their respective classrooms.

Artemis sat in his seat next to Genta and mentally braced himself for mind-numbing boredom.

About an hour later, as the teacher was writing some addition problems on the bored and explaining them as she went, she noticed that instead of the usual two students completely ignoring her, there were three. Conan and Ai she had expected, and had long since given up trying to get them to pay attention, but the new student appeared to be intently reading a book on his desk.

"Artemis, can you answer this problem?" She asked, hoping to catch him off guard.

"Five," Artemis said, not even glancing up from his book. The teacher was amazed that he had given the right answer, but then walked over to Artemis's desk. She closed his book and looked at the cover, prepared to scold him for not paying attention in class. The words caught in her throat when she saw what he was reading.

"_Paradise Lost_?" she gasped, amazed. "You understand this?" Artemis realized he was in trouble. He could have read that book when he was an actual child, but he was not supposed to stick out.

"..." Artemis was at a loss for words, something that barely ever happened. At least he had stopped himself from using incorrect grammar. Lucky for him, the teacher remembered she had other student to teach. She gave him back the book and went back to her lesson. When Artemis opened the book up again, she did not object.

_Why do I get all the creepy super-intelligent kids?_ She sighed to herself.


	6. Chapter 6

At lunch, before he could object, Artemis was dragged by Genta, Ayumi, and Mitsuhiko to the table they always ate at. Haibara and Conan made no move to help him. Artemis sighed and gave in to his fate.

Through the hour long lunch and recess, the three children tried to ask Artemis questions about where he was from, why his eyes were different colors, and did he like detectives. Artemis pointedly ignored them, until they asked if he wanted to join the detective boys.

"Sure," he smirked, obviously amused, "Why not?" Artemis was thinking how ironic it was that one of the best thieves of the century was going to join a club for young detectives. Conan noticed his amusement and wondered at what the Irish boy thought was so funny.

Artemis resisted all attempts to get him to play sports or on the playground. Finally, the children gave up, realizing his determination would not be swayed. Conan was slightly amazed that the trio had given up, but he couldn't blame them. Not with that look in the eyes of the transfer student.

After school, the detective boys were walking to the park. They were all walking in a line, blocking most of the side walk. Artemis was between Ayumi and Conan and Mitsuhiko. Ayumi turned to Artemis to ask yet another question and stopped, her mouth hanging open.

"Wow, your ears are pointed like an elf's!" she exclaimed. Artemis froze and reached a hand up to feel them. When his hand met his ear he turned even paler than usual. Conan looked too, his ears were pointed, but barely.

"Like an elf indeed." Artemis muttered, still touching his ear. "I should have expected this."

No one but Conan heard him.

'_Why would he expect to have pointed ears, wouldn't you be born with them?And he said elf like he has met one, but elves aren't real.' _Conan thought. _'This Artemis keeps getting more and more mysterious.'_

Artemis noticed Conan looking at him questioningly and narrowed his eyes, no one needed to fin out about the People.

_'Not that anyone would,' _Artemis reasoned, _'especially not a detective so firmly in reality. People tend to believe what they want to, after all. I really need to think about his new development later, when I will not be distracted. I scould have thought about side affects for the magic.'_

Once the group of children arrived at the park, everyone but Artemis decided to play soccer. Haibara was going to sit out to, but with Ayumi's pleading finally agreed. Artemis went to sit on a bench under a tree to wait, he did not like being in the sun. He pulled out his book and was about to open it to continue reading when he noticed a shimmer approaching him. With his knew fairy eye, he could almost see Holly settling down next to him on the bench. Then Artemis closed his blue eye and Holly became easy to see.

It was a pain that Artemis could only see shielded fairies with one eye, because it would look strange if he went around with one eye closed.

"Hello Holly."

"Hey Mud-boy." Holly looked frustrated. Frustrated and sad.

"What happened?It must be urgent if you need to tell me now"

"Another fairy was taken."Artemis frowned.

After knowing Artemis for over four years, and being his friend for most of those, Holly could tell that Artemis was worried. And for her, that meant that this situation was serous, and could turn very, very dangerous.

"The problem," Artemis said gravely, "is that we have no idea who these people are, or their what their goal is. I could ask Haibara and Conan, but they do not trust me."

"For good reason," Holly pointed out. "You appeared out of no where and won't tell them anything either."

"True." Artemis said, and sunk into thought. He was thinking about ways to get information without giving any in return. And of coarse, about the mysteries of their enemy.

Holly, still shielded, glanced around the park.

"I've got to go, Mud-boy. I'm going to look around for any sigh of those men in black. Though I doubt I will find anything." Holly sighed, but looked determined to find out who was hurting the People. Artemis nodded, still submerged in his thoughts. Holly stood, still shielded, and flew away.

She did not look back at the small boy sitting in the shade of the giant tree. If she had, Holly would have noticed the sudden frenzy below her.

Artemis's thoughts were abruptly disrupted when a scream shattered the peace of the sunny afternoon.

"He's dead!" A woman's shrieks filled the air. "He's dead!"

Before anyone else could react, Conan had abandoned the soccer game and was sprinting toward the source of the screams. Though the rest of the detective boys looked a bit sick, Mitsuhiko, Ayumi, and Genta followed close behind, running as fast as they could. For Genta, this was not very fast.

Artemis got to his feet in time to walk with Haibara in a more stately pace in the direction that the others had gone.

"The way they are handling this, it seems as if this happens often." Artemis noticed, his face carefully blank, none of his inner turmoil showing.

"It does." Haibara replied, her face equally as neutral. Ahead of them, the shrunken detective had reached to body.

Conan looked at the body and immediate vicinity for a few moments. He had a grim expression, and had an announcement to make.

"This was murder."


End file.
